It's a monetary issue and an issue of principle. We break the law every single day with even riskier behavior (ever sped? ever sat behind the wheel after a glass of wine at dinner? ever texted or talked on the phone while driving?) so I'm not buying into that line of reasoning too much. I don't believe I need to pay useless licensing fees. What was the original motivation behind these fees? To make sure animals are vetted, contained and vaccinated for rabies, correct? Perhaps to make a bit of cash to support AC as well. My animals are contained, vetted property, have their vaccinations, and are cared for. I volunteer my time and donate money to shelters/rescues. Why penalize ME when there are significantly riskier cases to follow up on? Why waste time driving around looking for people to fine? Is this a good use of time and resources?
It's a silly statement to make that someone not licensing their dogs must not care about the welfare of his or her animals. And no, my animals aren't suffering, nor will they suffer in the least
If someone wants to come into MY property and remove MY dog, they can surely try. But you can bet that I'll have my lawyer on the phone and ready to go after this type of fear mongering. If it comes to it, I have no problem arguing and making my case. Sure, I could lose. I probably will. But I'll make sure every ear within shouting distance will hear about this type of lunacy. Just because something is the law doesn't make it iron clad or correct. Laws are changed all the time. Few years back, we had to have permits as well as licenses for intact animals (I forget the orginal costs, but it was around 100-150$ per dog). Now they've removed the permit requirement and changed the licensing fee (it used to be 75$+). Government is made up of "we the people". I will voice my concerns and continue to do so, but I won't be licensing my dogs. The high fees for intact animals was imposed in order to discourage accidental breedings and encourage speutering. Here's the flaw in the plan: the people who don't care enough to speuter or contain their dogs are also the same people who don't pay licensing fees. So what does that do? The righteous get penalized! Nah, I won't be giving into that type of flawed reasoning